


Haunted

by HolmesHarleyWatson



Category: Halloween Movies - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Kissing, May/December Relationship, Oral Sex, Original Character(s), Protectiveness, Serial Killers, Sex
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-30
Updated: 2020-09-12
Packaged: 2021-03-04 07:34:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 21,384
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24999922
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HolmesHarleyWatson/pseuds/HolmesHarleyWatson
Summary: AU STORY/AU TIMELINE/AU EVERYTHING.Laurie is aware of her relationship to Michael Myers from the very beginning, she has harbored a crush on Sheriff Lee Brackett for several years that blossoms into genuine love when she moves in with he and Annie following her Brothers attack. Lee has also been aware of a shift in his feelings for her as he helps her heal from her past, but a new and strange psychic ability begins to rear it's head, confusing and scaring Laurie anew. Does Lee have the answer to these strange new abilities? Has a new serial killer began to stalk the woods surrounding Haddonfield? Does Laurie's new abilities hold the key to stopping this new threat?
Relationships: Lee Brackett/Laurie Strode
Comments: 6
Kudos: 2





	1. Changes

**So this idea is knocking on my brain and it won’t stop! My readers know that I am shamelessly addicted to all things Brad Dourif and seeing him in Rob Zombie’s Halloween 1 and 2 didn’t help matters in the least!**

**This is an AU story/AU timeline as usual. Annie and Laurie are just friends, both are 23 fresh out of college and beginning to grow apart as Annie’s friendship circle is expanding, Laurie’s is shrinking until she finds herself spending more and more of her time at home.**

**This is a Lee Brackett/Laurie Strode pairing, don’t like, then don’t read! Flames will be doused and ignored! Also, for pairings sake Lee Brackett is 45 years old in this fic.**

** Haunted Chapter 1: Changes **

Laurie picked her way through the contents of the fridge before taking out some veggies to make a decent lasagna for herself and Lee. Friday nights were already preemptively theirs alone for the past two years at least; Annie was never home on weekends anymore.

She fidgeted with her phone until she found a playlist she could live with on You Tube Red and plunked it down on the counter as she dug out the pans she would need and started chopping thin slices of tomato and zucchini.

The telltale heavy clip-clop of Annie’s gothic boots resounded through the ceiling above her, making their way down the stairs until the brunette scooted past her and ducked into the fridge for a bottle of Snapple. Laurie subconsciously hunched her shoulders slightly as though in preparation for a physical blow from her friend; head bowed, and eyes focused on the task at hand as she added the veggie slices to the first sauced layer of pasta.

“You know that Dad can fend for himself sometimes, right? Aren’t you taking the whole crush thing a bit far by now?” Annie teased, causing Laurie to scoff.

“God! I told you that three years ago when I was wasted! This isn’t…..this doesn’t have anything to do with that; I’d have to cook for myself anyways!” Laurie stuttered over her words with reddening cheeks, avoiding Annie’s gaze as she began adding layers of cheese to the dish.

“Dude, you’re like one fucking casserole away from Wifey material! Have you guys set a date yet? You know I’m never gonna call you Mom, right?” Annie joked, dodging out of the way when Laurie palmed a sizeable bit of tomato to throw at her.

“Shut the fuck up asshole! Don’t you have somewhere to be?” Laurie asked, laughing when Annie slid a bit on the tomato slice she had dodged seconds earlier.

“Sure I do. Some of us have a life,” She deadpanned, picking up the desiccated fruit and tossing it in the trash.

“If you call playing STD roulette every weekend having a life, I think I’ll pass.” Laurie snorted, causing the brunette to roll her eyes.

“At least I’m getting some, which is more than you can say while you’re sitting here playing house with Daddy Dearest; unless you guys are being extra quiet at night.” Annie retorted, causing Laurie to drop the spatula she had been using.

“How would you know anyways? Your almost never home anymore,” Laurie said this with a twinge more sadness in her voice than she meant to.

Annie flinched slightly before her calm and collected mask settled over her face again.

“Don’t forget Dad likes extra cheese,” She replied, scooping up her purse from the counter and spinning on her heel to head out the door.

“Annie---”

“You know, you can come to these parties too! These people used to be _our friends._ It’s not my fault that you just decided to disappear and become a fucking hermit!” Annie and Laurie both froze as they rounded the corner towards the front door; running smack dab into a discombobulated Lee Brackett.

“How long have you been standing there?” Laurie asked, the blood draining from her face.

“I uh, I just got in. What are y’all fighting about?” He asked swiftly, looking between them.

“We aren’t. I’m going out for the night. The Queen of Spaz is all yours,” Annie sighed, pushing passed him and slamming the front door shut behind her.

Laurie stood rooted to the spot for a moment as Annie peeled out of the driveway before she turned back towards the kitchen.

“Dinner in an hour,” She called over her shoulder, avoiding his gaze and praying for all she was worth that he hadn’t overheard their entire conversation.

“What’s on the menu?” He asked, following her down the hall and into the cozy kitchen.

“Veggie and cheese lasagna,” She replied, pouring him a cup of tea and setting it at his place at the table as was his usual routine when he came home from work.

“Thanks,” He said gratefully, leaning back in his chair and propping his feet up on Annie’s vacant seat.

“How was work?” Laurie asked in an attempt to return to normalcy.

“Ugh God, friggin paperwork up to here and the new guy is so green he could be neon. He arrested the Leslie boys for tagging the library of all things, so I had their madhatter Father in my office for over an hour, just a mess.” He replied, closing his eyes and rubbing at his temples.

“Jesus sounds shitty. Did you finish your paperwork at least?” She asked, taking her seat across from him with her own tea.

“Nah, I’m gonna have to go in tomorrow to get caught up. No way around that,” Lee sighed.

“Do you have any filing that I could help out with like last time?” Laurie asked, trying to keep the hopefulness out of her voice.

Weekends when she wasn’t working at the coffee shop tended to drag if she was home by herself without him.

“Laurie, I can’t ask you to waste your Saturday like that! You should go and have some fun,” He reasoned with her softly, knowing deep down that she wouldn’t leave the house even if he refused her help.

“We could catch a movie afterwards if you wanted to pay me back for my time,” She said slyly, causing one of those rare grins to cross his face.

“Is that so?” He asked her, some unnamable sparkle of mischief in his eyes.

“Yup, and maybe pizza at Lorenzo’s too.” She replied, giving him her best puppy eyes.

“Hmmm,” Lee sighed, pretending to think long and hard about her proposal.

“Well, you drive a hard bargain, but seeing as I’m desperate for the help I’ve no choice in the matter.” He confessed, smiling when her eyes lit up in a way that he rarely saw.

“Sweet! I’ll make breakfast before we go,” She promised, but he shook his head.

“Saturdays are sticky bun days, remember?” He whispered conspiratorially as though Annie could hear them and begin berating him for eating pastries for breakfast again.

“Oh yeah! I won’t breathe a word,” Laurie agreed with a smirk.

“Then we got ourselves a deal,” He said with a wink and Laurie blushed to the roots of her hair as she turned to check on their dinner.

After they ate, they both retired to the living room to watch reruns of Twilight Zone and Tales From The Crypt; Lee allowing her to curl up and lay her head on his shoulder as usual when they had their late night TV marathons.

“Lee?” She asked softly, half asleep and slightly groggy.

“Hmm?” He answered, nearly half-asleep himself.

“Can we have a vegetable garden out back?” Laurie asked, yawning.

“Sure sweetheart, as long as we don’t have to start digging tonight.” He replied, sitting up and turning the TV off when he saw that it was half past one in the morning.

Laurie swallowed thickly, suddenly hyper aware that he was preparing to turn in for the night. Nights alone in her room had become hard on her after the incident with her Brother, and the medications she was taking only ever took the edge off slightly. Sometimes, she had violent episodes in her sleep that Lee had had to wake her from, and there had been a few times that Lee had allowed her to sleep beside him afterwards until morning; though he had remained fully dressed and slept on top of the covers, ever the gentleman. When she and Annie had still been close, she used to run to her friends room for comfort, but that had been a long time ago and she didn’t feel welcome in Annie’s world like that anymore; hadn’t felt welcome like that for a very long time.

Lee seemed to sense her hesitation and cleared his throat as though to break the tension in the air around her.

“Why don’t you take your pills and come to bed in my room tonight since the house is kinda empty and quiet without Annie here? I’ll probably knock out right away anyhow,” He offered knowingly, watching the stiffness in her shoulders deflate gratefully.

“Are you sure? I’m sorry I’m such a pain in the ass,” Laurie apologized genuinely, but he frowned and shook his head.

“You’re not a pain in the ass, Laurie. I just know that your meds don’t work all of the time and that’s understandable, you’ve been through Hell.” Lee said softly, having heard her scream herself awake more often than not in the wee hours of the morning while his Daughter slept on oblivious to her friends suffering.

“Lemme just grab my meds and change,” She said awkwardly, not wanting to talk about Michael or the turmoil that he had wrought in her life.

Laurie’s room was down the hall from Lee’s and across from Annie’s and had its own private bathroom like Annie’s own. She tried not to think much as she washed her face and brushed her teeth, but as she looked in the mirror, flashes of blood on hardwood floors and the shine of something sharp unsteadied her and she nearly gagged as she spit the toothpaste out of her mouth and into the sink.

Taking a deep and shaking breath, she whipped the medicine cabinet open and snatched her pills out; filling a glass with water and downing them all at once with her eyes squeezed tightly shut. When the flashes subsided, she returned the pill bottles to their rightful place and slammed the mirror shut, avoiding her reflection once more. She pulled on a black tank top and pink pajama bottoms before making her way down the hall to Lee’s room, where he was climbing into bed himself.

“We don’t have to get up extra early or anything, probably around nine or so will do.” He said as she climbed in beside him and curled on her side to face him.

“Better get up at eight if you want there to be any sticky buns left,” Laurie said with a smirk, which made him laugh.

“Don’t think that I don’t know that you make Harley put a few aside for me when you aren’t working,” Lee teased, making her blush again.

“I guess its hard to keep a secret from you,” She murmured, looking at the faded decal on his t-shirt to avoid his eyes.

“I do have a knack for finding things out when I want to.” He agreed cryptically, making her wonder yet again if he had overheard her and Annie talking earlier.

Laurie tried to ask him something else, but the Xanax she had downed began to work its magic on her consciousness and she let her eyes fall shut and the blackness take her.

_Laurie opened her eyes slowly and frowned in confusion; she was outside in the woods in the dark with only the moonlight to light her surroundings. She stood shakily in her pajamas and bare feet, the cold and damp biting into her skin and causing gooseflesh to pepper her arms instantaneously. She looked around in search of a path, but she seemed to be deep enough into the woods that the trees practically grew on top of one another unchecked here, which did nothing to ease her raising panic._

_Where was Lee? How had she gotten out in the middle of nowhere with nothing but her flimsy pajamas?_

_A noise to her left made her swing around in time to see a young woman around her age with long dark hair and pale skin burst out of the trees, her denim jacket snagging on a low hanging branch; the knees of her white pants marred by both mud and blood as though she had fallen several times and gotten back up to run more than once._

_“Where are we? Who are you?” Laurie asked breathily, but the girl seemed to look through her as she plotted which direction she should run in next._

_“Hey! What’s wrong? I’m Laurie Strode, can you tell me your n—_

_But the girl, having decided where to run next, jogged right through Laurie without pause._

_“Hey! What the fuck?!” Laurie gasped, eyes widening uncomprehendingly as she stared off in the direction the girl had run._

_She stood indecisive for a moment, nearly ready to run after the girl when she heard a sound in the trees behind her; whistling._

_Laurie turned again and her blood froze in her veins when she glimpsed a tall figure swinging an axe casually at his side as he whistled away coolly, the jaunty tune completely incongruous with the hard lines of his face and the flinty glint in his eyes._

_The man seemed completely at home in the woods, as though he were walking down the main street of a town he had lived in all of his life. He paused for a moment to pull a pack of Camels out of his flannel jacket, then a zippo lighter from his jeans before he lit his cigarette and carried on in exactly the direction the girl had fled in; paying no mind to Laurie as she stood frozen in fear._

_He continued whistling his tune as he sauntered on passed her, and something about what he was whistling seemed familiar to her; though she couldn’t place it for the life of her._

_Laurie swayed on feet as a sudden wave of nausea hit her and the trees and forest seemed to blur past her as though on fast-forward until she collapsed in a wave of dizzy exhaustion._

She gasped herself awake hoarsely, clawing at her throat and chest as oxygen seemed unable to stay in her lungs at the moment.

Lee sat up beside her swiftly, reaching over to turn on the bedside lamp and wrap his arm around her shoulders.

“Hey, it’s okay Laurie. It’s alright,” He murmured thickly, his voice still rough with sleep.

She was shivering uncontrollably as he coaxed her back down onto her side, her breathing beginning to return to normal as he rubbed her upper arm and brushed the hair from her face.

“I’m sorry,” Laurie gasped, swallowing thickly, and trying in vain to erase the forest and the creepy whistling from her mind.

“Don’t apologize, it’s fine. Are you okay?” Lee asked, searching her eyes with his own.

“Yeah, yeah I’m fine. Go back to sleep,” Laurie urged apologetically, but Lee shook his head.

“It’s almost time to get up anyways. You don’t have to come in with me if you need more sleep, we can still catch a movie later if you want.” He said softly, but she looked panicked at the thought.

“No! No, it’s fine. I’m just gonna grab a quick shower and change,” She replied, wincing at how her pajamas clung to the cold sweat on her body.

A quarter of an hour later, Lee was sitting on the sofa waiting for her with his damp hair in its customary ponytail. She blushed lightly when she saw him in faded black jeans and a dark gray sweater; it was rare that he went out without his uniform on, but he looked at least ten years younger when he did which made her situation all the worse.

“Ready to hit the road Sugar?” He asked her, blue eyes dancing with some untold mischief as her breath escaped her at his seldom used nickname for her.

“Uh, yeah. Lets go,” Laurie replied, grabbing her hoodie from the hooks next to the front door.

“You wanna take your car or mine?” He asked her, motioning between the squad car and her Nissan.

“Mine, but you drive? Please?” She asked anxiously.

“Sure, but you know I’m just gonna adjust the shit out of your seat, so it’ll feel like your sitting in the back seat next time you get in. Why don’t you ever like driving when we go anywhere?” He asked with a frown.

“Are you kidding me? It’s a total trap! I blow a stop sign and you write me a ticket from the passenger seat? I think I’ll pass.” She laughed.

“I’m sure that you could persuade me to let you off with a warning darlin’” Lee drawled, causing her breath to hitch again.

Was he _actually_ flirting with her? No, it had to be her imagination running away with itself as usual.

Unless he _had_ overheard her and Annie the day before?

Dear God in Heaven, she hoped not.

But part of her, a desperately love-struck part of her hoped that he had and that the feelings were mutual.

A girl could fucking dream, okay?

“Where the hell is everybody goin’ this early on a Saturday morning?” He groused as they pulled onto the main road traffic.

“They’re going for sticky buns obviously!” She teased, enjoying his gruff laugh.

When they pulled into the parking lot beside _Uncle Meat’s Java Hole_ minutes later, there were several customers in line already and Laurie could see Harley cranking the espresso machine rhythmically, brow furrowed in concentration.

“Yikes! You sure they aren’t gonna pull you in for a couple hours when we go in here?” He asked her as he surveyed the small crowd.

“Nah, this is nothing compared to what we get weekday mornings.” Laurie assured as he held the door open for her.

“Look what the cat dragged in,” Uncle Meat exclaimed, making Laurie roll her eyes and shake her head.

“Hey, its not my fault Haddonfield hasn’t joined the twentieth century and opened a Starbuck’s!” She quipped, earning a groan from Harley and Uncle Meat in unison.

“Those corporate leaches don’t even know how to make real coffee! Nothing beats Uncle Meat!!!” Uncle Meat proclaimed to the applause of several customers.

“What? Nothing beats your meat? Should we be involving the customers in this conversation?” Harley asked, causing Laurie to flush scarlet.

“Hey, hey, hey! Not in front of the Sheriff!” Uncle Meat chided, shooing Harley back to the espresso machine.

“Jesus guys! See what I have to put up with?” Laurie asked Lee as he laughed and shook his head.

“Hey, I can’t believe you decided to roll your ass out of bed this early on your day off! And come here of all places,” Harley groused.

“Well, that’s kinda my fault that she’s up early and in here. Laurie’s gonna help me out with some filing today and I am in need of some sticky buns,” Lee confessed with a shrug.

“Yup, she made us hold back half a dozen as usual just for you.” Uncle Meat nodded, handing over a pastry box and two extra-large coffees.

“Oh great! What’s the damage?” Lee asked, pulling out his wallet.

Uncle Meat shook his head and waved him off

“On the house, y’all are practically family after all,” He said as Harley meandered over to whisper in Laurie’s ear, earning a slap on the arm and a blush for whatever she had said.

“Well thanks! I’ll see you guys again on Monday morning I guess, but as a paying customer.” He replied as he took their coffee and Laurie grabbed the pastry box.

“Seems like a fun crew to work with,” Lee said as they made their way back onto the road towards the Police Station.

“Yeah, their okay.” She laughed, sipping her coffee, and sighing pleasantly at the taste.

When they arrived at the station Lee rolled his eyes when he spotted his rookie officer fumbling with his gun belt beside his squad car.

“Lord, gimme strength.” He sighed as he unbuckled his seatbelt and got out of the Nissan.

“Morning Boss! Wasn’t expecting you today,” Randy stuttered, looking between Laurie and Lee as though one of them were going to throw a right hook any moment.

“At ease Randy, I’m just here in an unofficial capacity today for a few hours to get some paperwork off my desk. Randy, this is my friend Laurie; Laurie, this is my new recruit Randy.” Lee introduced.

Laurie smiled in a business-like way and waved. She wasn’t good in social situations; even before the shit-show with her Brother had gone down, she had always been the shy type that kept to herself.

“Hi! Nice to meet you,” Randy said with a smile.

Laurie nodded and ducked into the Station quickly, avoiding conversation with the newbie as much as possible.

“Well good morning Laurie, long time no see.” Gloria greeted from the dispatch desk and Laurie smiled fondly, going over to give the elderly Hispanic woman a hug.

“I didn’t know you worked weekends now!” Laurie exclaimed, offering a sticky bun from the pastry box, which Gloria excepted gratefully.

“Yeah, I just started to fit in some Saturdays to keep me busy. Matthew got deployed last month,” She explained, and Laurie nodded in understanding; Matthew Munoz was a Marine and this would be his second tour of duty.

“Morning Gloria, what the hell am I gonna do with that boy?” Lee asked without preamble as he grabbed a sticky bun for himself.

“Don’t look at me,” Gloria replied with a smirk.

“Dang it woman, why do I always gotta be the dumbass whisperer?” Lee groused, making Laurie snort and almost spit out her coffee.

“Oh my God, he can’t be that bad!” She exclaimed, looking between the two of them in exasperation.

“Yes he can be. Last week, he called in on dispatch because he caught a flat out on Route 34 and didn’t know how to change a tire.” Gloria sighed.

“Oh wow. I stand corrected,” Laurie winced, as Lee gave Gloria a commiserating look.

Lee sauntered into his office with Laurie trailing behind him.

“Are you making this poor girl work on a Saturday here with you?” Gloria asked in a motherly way, but Laurie giggled.

“Oh don’t worry, he’s taking me to the movies and pizza later. I know how to negotiate my prices wisely; learned from the best after all,” She joked, making Gloria laugh.

“That’s my girl! I taught you well, eh?” She asked mock-conspiratorially.

“Yeah, you women always know how to gang up on us poor unsuspecting boys, huh?” Lee laughed.

Laurie nodded in affirmation as she spied the large stack on papers in the _To Be Filed_ box on his desk with wide eyes.

“And you thought that you were going to get all this done today as well as your reports? Were you even planning on coming home again before Christmas?” Laurie asked.

Lee sighed and shrugged.

“Okay, so I’m more than a little behind here.” He admitted.

“Lee, when are you going to get some help around here? Andrea retired over two months ago! It’s passed time to look for a replacement!” She admonished, lifting the hefty pile with two hands.

“Are you applying?” Lee asked her.

“What?” Laurie asked in disbelief.

“I mean, legally I would need to post the position and interview a few people, but if you wanted the job it pays good and has good benefits. Definitely better then the coffee shop I bet,” He coaxed, delighting in the smile that lit up her face.

“Okay,” Laurie squeaked, suddenly self-conscience.

“Okay, good. It’s yours in a months’ time, that’ll give you time to give Uncle Meat notice and me time to pretend to look for someone else.” He replied, turning on his laptop with a resigned sigh.

“Wow! Okay, cool. You won’t regret it, I swear.” She said, hugging the stack of papers to her chest with new resolve and heading over to the file cabinets with purpose.

“I already don’t.” Lee said with a wink, making her blush once more as she got to work.

An hour into her filing, she was beginning to curse Randy herself from the very bottom of her soul. She had been helping Lee with paperwork off and on for years now on the weekends, even when she was in high school and her step-parents were still alive. He had paid her out of petty cash whenever his old secretary Andrea would go on vacation or when she was out sick due to her asthma in the summer and fall. Laurie had gotten used to the neat way that Lee wrote out his paperwork, even Lee’s Deputies had neater script and took better care than this!

“How did he get hired here again?” She asked, as she interrupted Lee for the dozenth time when she couldn’t decipher what the hell Randy had scribbled across the citation.

“I took pity on him because Peter Tate is his Uncle,” He replied with a sigh, and Laurie’s jaw dropped.

Peter Tate was the Mayor of Haddonfield.

“And it wasn’t a red flag for you when he didn’t give him a job at the Mayor’s office?” She asked pointedly.

“Sure it was, but I owed Pete a favor anyways, so I felt kinda cornered. That name on there is Oakes.” He said, handing it back to her.

“Lord have mercy,” She muttered, squinting at Randy’s chicken-scratch, and wondering how the hell Lee could read it.

She wrote out a folder for it and filed it, moving onto the next; but the sound of the fax machine beeping to life and beginning to print interrupted her.

“Can you bring that in when it’s through printing? If it’s coming through on a Saturday, it’s most likely an all-points bulletin,” Lee explained.

Laurie nodded, making her way over to the fax and gathering the papers off of the printing tray; but she froze mid-step when she saw the missing persons poster on top.

It was the girl from her dream smiling back at her from the flier.

****

****


	2. Chapter 2: Unravelling

** Chapter 2:  **

****

****

Laurie’s hands shook as she handed the stack of papers to Lee and turned back to her filing silently, but Lee had glimpsed her shaking hands and her pallor and looked at the flier in his hands.

“Do you know this girl?” He asked gently, getting up from his seat at his desk and coming to lay a hand on her trembling shoulder.

“N-n-no,” Laurie replied tremulously as Lee turned her back towards him.

“What is it? Did you have a flashback or-

“No! I just….Lee, I think I’m fucking losing it. Like, even more than usual.” She confessed, gulping in a shaky breath and leaning against the file cabinets for support.

“Why? What happened just now? You know that I’m here for you no matter what.” He assured her patiently, waiting for her to gather herself and elaborate.

“That nightmare that I had last night or this morning or whatever, I- I can’t explain it, but _I saw this girl._ I woke up in the woods and she was running and then-“ Laurie gasped, squeezing her eyes shut.

“Here, sit down. It’s okay,” Lee steered her to the seat across from his desk and handed her her cup of coffee to sip.

“There was this man in the woods. I know what it sounds like, but this dream wasn’t about M-m-michael. This was someone else completely, he had an old fashioned axe and it was huge, like something you’d use to chop down a tree. He was wearing a brown and black flannel coat and one of those winter hats with the earflaps on it; he smokes Camel cigarettes and he was whistling this song; I can’t remember what the song is called, but it was a really old song. I-I think that I heard my grandparents play it sometimes, I mean step-grandparents or whatever. Lee, I know this sounds crazy but-“ Laurie gestured helplessly and Lee frowned thoughtfully, his eyes going distant for a moment before he met her eyes once again.

“What else do you remember? Any landmarks or anything familiar at all?” He asked, returning to his desk and scribbling down the description she had given him.

“No, I was just in the middle of the woods. I don’t even know _which woods_ or where. The girl was wearing this blue jean jacket, white pants, and a black blouse. I think she had on white tennis shoes. Lee, what are you doing? Do you think this is real? How is that even possible?” Laurie asked shakily as she noticed him jotting everything she said down in a notebook.

“Let’s just say that I’m open to……things that are difficult to explain. People having dreams or visions of things is rare, but it isn’t unheard of.” He said softly as he read through the missing persons bulletin.

“Okay, but it’s not like I’m…..like I’m-

“Psychic?” Lee finished for her and she nodded uneasily.

“What’s happening to me?” Laurie whispered, wishing for all that she was worth that her life could return to some semblance of normal; but Michael’s return to her life seemed to have set forth some cataclysmic changes that she was helpless to stop or control.

“I’m not sure……but I used to know someone with similar…abilities. A friend of mine from school,” He replied, looking lost in thought again.

Laurie swallowed thickly and shook her head, standing once more to return to her filing.

“Why don’t you take a break from that?” Lee offered, but Laurie shook her head emphatically.

“I need to keep busy or I’ll go batshit crazy, not that I’m not already at least three quarters of the way there,” She replied with an ironic chuckle.

“People who are crazy; I mean _really crazy,_ would never say that they were crazy. They all think that they’re sane.” Lee countered, making her smile softly.

Lee looked over the poster again with a frown; it gave a description of the girl as well as her name (Alyssa Clairmont) but failed to mention what she had been wearing when she went AWOL. She was twenty-one, last seen on campus a town over from Haddonfield, family and friends forming search parties, call the Peoria Sheriff’s office with any info, etc.

Lee put his reports aside and logged onto the business end of the Sheriff’s site, looking through wanted fugitives in the Peoria area. He didn’t want to upset Laurie even further, but he wondered if she could remember what the creep in her dream looked like; she had certainly remembered his clothes and cigarettes well enough. He would give her a break for now and bring it up when they got home later….

“So what movie are we seeing?” Lee asked as they made their way back to Laurie’s Nissan hours later, the sun just beginning to set in the sky behind the Police Station.

“I don’t know, maybe the new Terminator flick? Or there’s that spy movie,” She shrugged noncommittally, and Lee laughed.

“Never the one for a romantic comedy, huh?” He teased knowingly, making her scoff.

“God, that lovey-dovey crap is such bullshit.” Laurie replied, wrinkling her nose.

“Really? Never had a boy come and sweep you off of your feet?” He asked as they headed towards Haddonfield’s only movie theatre.

“Nope,” She said with a shrug, which made him frown.

“Really?” He asked, making her blush and clear her throat.

“Really Lee? We’re gonna talk boys now?” She asked incredulously.

“I’m just curious, sorry that I asked.” He said, raising his hands in a gesture of surrender.

“It’s fine…. I just, never really dated at all even though Annie has tried to set me up like a billion times. She’d be the one to ask about boys,” Laurie said before she could really stop herself.

“So…. Annie’s dated a lot?” Lee asked anxiously, and Laurie groaned tossing her hood over head to hide.

“Damn, forget I said that please.” She said miserably.

“But we’re talking less than ten right?” Lee persisted.

Laurie’s eyes bulged slightly, and she shrugged.

“More than ten?” Lee asked, and Laurie groaned again.

“Look…..Annie is, well, she’s always been super popular. Being around guys has always been easy for her,” She replied, avoiding his eyes effusively.  
  


“Oh God, I don’t want to know.” He said, blanching.

“Then why did you ask?! Oh my God, she already hates me enough as it is.” Laurie said miserably.

Lee was silent for a moment while he parked in front of the theatre.

“I uh…… I heard you and Annie arguing yesterday. The whole argument,” He clarified, seeing Laurie bury her head in her hands.

“Fuck,” She muttered from behind them, her worst nightmare (besides her Brother coming back to chop her to pieces) having come true.

“Laurie, I-

“Stop. Please, just don’t. I don’t think I could bear the rejection if I heard it out loud! I would rather have you in my life as a friend than not at all, so just forget about what you heard and I’ll-

“Laurie-

“I’ll just live in my room and never leave, I’m sure that the pizza guy will deliver pizza to my room if I tip extra well, and then you could just pretend that I don’t exist or just kick me out of your house, it’s fine-

“Laurie, will you listen please?!” Lee exclaimed, half laughing at her manic words and half exasperated that she assumed that he didn’t want her.

Laurie still had her head in her hands, thinking that this was positively in the top five worst days in her life (at least third place), and she wished whole-heartedly that she could beat the living hell out of Annie for ever bringing her deepest, darkest secret up yesterday at all.

“I’m listening,” She squeaked miserably, still not daring to meet his gaze; her hair curtaining her beet-red face.

“Will you please look at me?” Lee asked, brushing her hair out of her face once more.

Laurie took a deep breath, her eyes meeting his with so much fear and sadness in their depths that it nearly took his breath away.

She swallowed thickly; the sight of his bright cerulean eyes captivating as always, nearly hypnotizing her as he moved forward slowly, hands cupping her cheeks and drawing her closer until his lips brushed hers as though he were asking permission; waiting for her response.

Laurie closed the gap between them hesitantly at first, but that first innocent exploration ignited an explosion of want within her. She gasped as an unfamiliar warmth began to pool in her belly, giving him access to plunder her mouth with his tongue.

An unrecognizable sound tore away from her throat then and she began kissing him back tentatively, her inexperience causing her to not know exactly what to do with her hands. She wanted to touch him, to be closer to him as though his body were sending her own an inaudible sirens call as she fell into a rhythm he showed her with his lips, teeth, and tongue.

He broke the kiss reluctantly and touched his forehead to hers as they both caught their breath; Laurie had somehow forgotten that she required oxygen.

“I feel like some kind of bumbling fool for saying this, but I love you. I have for at least a year now, but I never thought that you felt like this. Annie kept dropping hints here and there, but I never thought that she was serious,” He confessed, surprising her with both his words and his look of uncertainly; as though he were suddenly afraid that he’d said too much.

“I love you too,” She replied earnestly, hardly daring to believe that this was finally happening; he finally knew the truth and best of all, the feeling was mutual.

It was more than she could have ever hoped for.

Laurie captured his lips with her own once again, wishing wholeheartedly that they were home where she could climb into his arms and disappear.

“Do we really need to see this stupid movie? Let’s go home,” She murmured against him, her eyes shyly meeting his once more.

Lee smirked and kissed her cheek, drawing her into an embrace and exhaling softly.

“Let’s not go too fast, okay? I know that you’re not like Annie is, and I wanna do this right.” He said gruffly.

Laurie huffed impatiently, which made Lee laugh.

“Seriously? Only I could have this happen to me,” She sighed dramatically, Lee’s eyes sparkling at her reaction.

“What?” He asked in mock innocence, causing her to go nearly bug-eyed behind her glasses.

“You were doing so good too! God must have a grudge against me or something,” She replied, moving to open her door and get out but Lee pulled her back and locked his lips to hers once more, earning a gasp which he took full advantage of; exploring her with his tongue once more.

His hands seemed to be everywhere, one working its way possessively into her hair while the other caressed her neck, her collarbone, and finally palmed her breast through her shirt. She couldn’t bear to remain still any longer, her hands snaking under his sweater to meet an undershirt beneath much to her chagrin.

“Why are you wearing so many layers?” She huffed once more, earning a chuckle as he broke away from her once again.

“Patience darlin’” He drawled, making her insides turn to jelly.

“Okay,” She acquiesced, giving him a last (and more civilized) peck before leaning back reluctantly.

“Listen you, I am trying to be a gentleman here!” Lee chuckled and she blushed and nodded.

“I know, I get it. I’ll behave,” She assured him with a shrug.

“At least let me take you out a few times first,” He muttered, a rare blush rising passed his collar.

“Okay, I will! We can do the whole Jane Austin, ‘Pride And Prejudice’ thing if you want; whatever makes you happy. I’ll even start referring to the living room as the parlor and start serving you tea there and curtsying and everything,” Laurie promised, making Lee chortle raucously.

“No need to go that far Darlin’, even though you would look sexy in a corset carrying a tea tray.” He replied with a wink, making her snort derisively.

“See? I knew I had you pegged,” She said playfully as they both got out and slammed their doors in unison, the twilight and the crisp air adding to the magic Laurie was feeling as they made their way to the theatre.

They had settled on the spy movie, but fuck all if anyone were to ask Laurie what the hell it was about. She couldn’t concentrate for the life of her as she kept stealing glances at Lee and pinching her arm a few times to make sure that all of this was actually real.

Halfway through the movie, he lifted the dividing armrest between them and put an arm around her; allowing her to curl into his side, much like they did on countless occasions when movie night was at home. She was comforted by the sound of his heartbeat beneath his sweater as well as the rhythmic rise and fall of his chest as he breathed, his familiar scent like a beacon of safety to her.

Laurie must have dozed off at some point because the next thing she knew, Lee was gently shaking her awake and the theatre was deserted besides the two of them and the clean up crew sweeping up popcorn.

“Shit, I’m sorry.” She said thickly, straightening her glasses and sitting up.

“It’s alright, you didn’t miss much.” He said with a wink as they made their way back to the lobby and through the small crowd of Patrons lining up for the next show.

As Laurie made her way passed a group of twenty-somethings; a few of which she recognized from college, they openly stared at her and whispered as she walked by. A few of the girls around her age even looked scared, backing away from her to give the couple a wide berth.

If Lee had noticed (and she knew that he noticed everything) he pretended not to as he held the door for her to exit the theatre to the parking lot beyond.

Laurie ducked her head and shoved her hands in her pockets as they made their way back to her car.

“So, you still up for Lorenzo’s or are you too tired?” He asked as they got in.

“Yeah, I’m still up for it. As long as you don’t mind being seen with me and being stared at like you’re part of the freak show,” She replied, making him chortle.

“Don’t let those assholes bother you Laur’. It’s just part of living in a shitty small town,” He assured her as they made their way back onto the road.

“It’s just part of having a psychotic asshole serial killer for an older brother too,” She scoffed uneasily.

“Yeah, that too. Just try to ignore it, they’re a bunch of suburban nobodies anyhow.” Lee said with a shrug.

Laurie smiled softly and leaned against his arm as he drove, something about the combination of his presence and the sounds of the road soothing to her.

Lorenzo’s was relatively quiet on a Saturday evening due to most people deciding to order in on the weekends; though there were a few booths occupied.

Lee sat them at an out of the way booth in the back and ordered a large veggie deluxe, much to Laurie’s surprise.

“No meat for the caveman today?” She asked.

“Nah, you veg heads have grown on me.” He replied, frowning when his cell phone pinged.

“Work email?” She asked knowingly.

He nodded and sighed.

“Do you mind? I sent out a question about that missing girl and I think it might be the Sheriff in Peoria,” He asked apologetically.

“Go for it, we can make up for lost time later.” Laurie replied, curious about the girl’s case herself.

Lee clicked the email open and skimmed towards the bottom, clicking on the link that the Peoria Sheriff had attached; his stomach doing flip-flops when he read the description of what the missing girl had been wearing, including a grainy cell phone pic of her the day she had gone missing on campus. He sighed, weighing the options of asking Laurie about this now or waiting until they were back at home.

“Laurie? Can you tell me what the girl in your dream had been wearing again?” He asked; not that his memory was failing him, he just wanted to be sure.

Laurie paled a bit and stared at him anxiously.

“A blue jean jacket, black blouse, white pants, white tennis shoes. Why? Did they find her?” She asked hopefully, dreading the answer.

“No, but I asked them for a description of what she had been wearing when she went missing and they sent it, along with a photo of her from that day.” Lee showed her the photo and she froze, her eyes widening in disbelief.

“How is this possible? What’s wrong with me?!” Laurie whispered shakily as the waitress brought their pizza and two glasses of Coke.

Lee waited until the waitress had returned to the kitchen before he took Laurie’s hand and shook his head.

“There’s nothing wrong with you! You’re just gonna have to trust me on that, okay?” He asked her, but she frowned and shook her head.

“Why are you taking this so well? Do you know something about me? Something weird or-

“Just……I’d rather not get into it just yet, but there’s nothing wrong with you. For now, we need to monitor these dreams that you’re having and try to keep a log of what you saw when you wake up; try to pick out anything that could be considered a landmark. You might be the only help that this girl has,” Lee said, motioning for her to start eating.

Laurie sighed and picked up a slice of pizza noncommittally.

“But you will tell me eventually, right?” She asked softly, looking into his concerned eyes pleadingly.

“’Course I will. We just need to get a better handle on your PTSD before we walk down that particular road, okay?” He replied, hoping that she’d drop it.

“Okay.” Laurie trusted him with her life, she may as well trust him with her healing too.

They ended up having a relatively normal meal after that; he was even able to get her to laugh about some parts of the movie that she had missed.

When they got home, Annie’s parking spot was vacant as usual; which Lee tried to act nonchalant about, but Laurie knew that her long stretches of absenteeism was beginning to concern him.

“She drunk-texted me an apology when we were at the movies, but she isn’t driving so don’t worry. And you never heard that from me, okay?” Laurie said pointedly, making Lee sigh.

“Where is she? Who the hell is she drinking with? She has heard of date rape and roofies, right?” He asked in exasperation.

“Chill, please. She’s with her old sorority sisters at one of their houses like twenty minutes away from here, no boys. Annie’s having a girls night tonight apparently,” Laurie replied, rolling her eyes.

“She didn’t invite you?” He asked incredulously, which nearly made Laurie trip _up_ the stairs as she turned to look at him agape.

“No! Oh my God, no! Wow….. no,” She answered automatically, her eyes widening and her cheeks reddening.

Lee frowned in confusion.

“What am I missing here?” He pressed as she unlocked the door and flipped on the lights in the living room.

“Just....don’t ask. I think that you’re on a different page right now and you should probably stay there,” Laurie said uncomfortably.

“But, what’s wrong with a Girl’s night? Isn’t that like when you guys get together and do you hair and nails and talk about guys and stuff?” He asked cluelessly.

“When we were 12 or 15 or even 19, sure. It’s a lot different now.” Laurie assured him, praying to any deity listening that he would drop it.

“Different how?” Lee persisted, causing Laurie to groan miserably.

“You aren’t going to drop this at all, are you?” She asked knowingly.

The detective in Lee could never just let anything go; he was worse than a blood hound tracking a scent.

“Probably not,” He agreed without remorse.

“Okay, fine! It’s because all of the girls are together,” She said, to which he still looked perplexed.

“Like, _together-together.”_ Laurie said, seeing Lee’s face go from clueless to mortified in one fell swoop.

“Oh Jesus! Why in the world….I thought that Annie was seeing boys!” He gasped in shock, making his way to the sofa and half-collapsing there.

“Annie’s been Bi since at least sixth grade Lee. Why? You don’t seem like a homophobe,” Laurie said.

“I’m not! It’s just, I’ve learned a lot more about Annie hanging out with you than I have living in the same house with her for the past twenty-three years is all. You can’t blame for being shocked, I just hope that she’s being safe.” He sighed, making Laurie laugh and shake her head.

“She is, trust me. She knows how to take care of herself,” She assured him, sitting beside him and curling her legs up under her.

“Are you ever gonna tell me why y’all broke up your friendship and have been at one another’s throats for the past who knows how long?” He asked her softly.

Laurie remained silent for so long that he almost thought that she wasn’t going to answer him, but after a prolonged silence, she began.

“It started going downhill after the shit with my brother. She thinks that I act like I do for attention; she doesn’t believe that I have nightmares or PTSD or anything. She said that I act like she wasn’t attacked and almost killed, that all I care about is myself.” She muttered, staring ahead and not meeting Lee’s gaze.

“What? She said all of that shit to you?” He asked in disbelief.

Laurie shrugged and nodded.

“There was also some incidents where I was using some unhealthy coping mechanisms that she also ripped me a new one for and then she outted me to our friends, so I stopped hanging out with them. It was all over Facebook and people were messaging me all of this shit and telling me that I should just kill myself and finish what Michael started. That was like, two or three years ago. So I deleted my social media shit and just started keeping to myself more.” Laurie said with a shrug, brushing an errant tear away irritably.

Lee was floored.

“Why didn’t you ever come to me? Why have you held all of this in?” He asked, reaching for her and pulling her closer.

“Oh sure, fucking tattle like we’re five? I wasn’t going to be the immature bitch in the scenario too,” She sniffed.

Lee swallowed thickly, disappointed that Annie had behaved like this.

“Laurie, what can I do? Do you want me to talk to her or-

“No! No, just…. Just be here for me, like always.” She said, laying her head on his chest as he wrapped his arms around her.

Lee frowned when something she had said came back to him and he tilted her chin up to meet his gaze.

“What kind of unhealthy coping mechanism?” He asked, looking concerned.

Laurie sighed and straightened up nervously, unsure of how to talk about it or how he would take it. Would he be disgusted? Or even worse, would he pity her? Or worse yet, would he think twice about wanting to be with her?

“I uh…..sometimes when things get bad….I cut myself, and for the past year or so, I’ve been taking more Xanax than I should. I have different pharmacies and a couple different doctors that I get to prescribe me.” Laurie confessed monosyllabically.

Lee swallowed hard and let out a long sigh slowly.

“Laurie, you can’t keep taking Xanax like that. Benzo’s are dangerous , Honey.” He told her gruffly, smoothing her hair out of her face and kissing her softly.

“I know, I just….. I don’t know what to do. I can’t sleep and when I do, I keep seeing all of this shit. Sometimes I just wish he had killed me too,” She sobbed, and he held her tightly as her body shook violently with the weight of emotion she was feeling.

“Don’t say that sweetheart,” Lee replied, rocking her gently until her tears subsided and she was nearly limp in his arms.

“Laurie? We need to get you up to bed,” He said, coaxing her into a sitting position and half lifting her to her feet.

She stumbled to the stairs and nearly collapsed, but Lee caught her easily and lifted her into his arms where she clung to his neck with glassy eyes. When Lee steered them towards her bedroom, she tensed in his arms; the uncertainty in her eyes palpable.

“Take it easy Darlin’ we just need to get your meds for the night,” Lee assured her, setting her down on her bed and steeling himself for what he had to say next.

“I need your stash. All of it,” He said, voice brooking no argument.

Laurie took a deep breath and began going around her room, pulling out half a dozen bottles from various locations and dumping them on her bedspread without meeting his eyes.

“That’s all of it?” Lee asked her, seeing her faulter.

“The stuff from Dr. Collier is still in the medicine cabinet,” She said quietly.

Lee strode past her and took everything from the medicine cabinet as well, stripping her pillow and piling all of the bottles into the pillowcase.

“How many did you have today?” He asked her gently, wanting her to know that he was only trying to help her.

“Two this morning before we left,” She said shakily.

“How many do you normally take a day?” He asked.

“Three….sometimes more if it’s a really bad day,” Laurie confessed uneasily.

“Alright. You get one of these and we are weaning you back down to one a day at bedtime slowly; Now I’m not going to rat you out to Dr. Collier about this because I am going to trust you and give you the benefit of the doubt for now, but if you start collecting scripts like this again I’ll ship you off to rehab to get clean. Deal?” He said sternly and Laurie nodded swiftly.

“Promise me,” Lee said, looking into her eyes with so much concern and worry that her heart almost broke.

“I promise,” She said softly, tears falling from her eyes anew.

Lee moved forward swiftly and embraced her, kissing the top of her head and leading her out of her room back down the hall to his.

Laurie was boneless as she stripped out of her jeans and t-shirt in his bathroom and put on the pajamas Lee had handed her through the door. She gulped as she heard him slam the safe in his bedroom shut; locking away her pills for safe keeping until she could be trusted to handle her own meds again. She felt so guilty and ashamed, but amazingly he hadn’t judged her or condemned her for overindulging her scripts like she had thought he would. He was helping her, just like he always had with everything else.

When she had the courage to come out of the bathroom, he was propped up against the headboard looking over something on his cell phone with a furrowed brow.

“Everything okay?” Laurie asked shakily, crawling into bed beside him and settling in.

“Yeah, just the adventures of Randy continuing. He just texted me some pics of his squad car because somebody keyed it up,” Lee sighed, his eyes rolling skyward.

“I bet it was the Leslie boys…..or maybe even their crazy Father,” She yawned.

“I’d be betting likewise Sweetheart,” Lee laughed, plugging his cell into its charger and settling in beside her.

“Are you going to bring them in for questioning then?” She asked sleepily.

Lee snorted derisively.

“Hell no. More headache than its worth. Besides, if he drives me any further up a tree I might just key his damn car next,” He joked, making her smile in her half-awake state.

Lee drew her closer and kissed her forehead.

“I love you Sweetheart,” He murmured as darkness took her.

_Laurie sat up suddenly, she panicked for a moment before she realized that she was laying on the floor in her room._

_“Angel-baby,” A voice called from behind her breathily, causing her to stand shakily and whip around._

_Deborah Myers stood in the doorway in a flowing white dress, looking like some misplaced fairytale Goddess._

_“Mom?” Laurie breathed, recognizing her from old family photos that the Strode’s had shown her when they had told her she had been adopted._

_“Angel-baby, when are you coming home? Your Brother and I miss you so much,” She whispered, moving aside to reveal the ten-year old version of Michael._

_“I miss you Boo,” He said sadly, his innocent blue eyes completely adverse to the killer within._

_“Please just leave me alone!” Laurie begged, her hands coming up to shield her ears as a song began to play loudly from her stereo._

_‘Lonely….I’m Mr. Lonely….I have nobody for my own…’_

_Michael and her Mother smiled and began to dance together as Laurie squeezed her head and pinched her arms._

_“Wake up! Come on you stupid, stupid bitch wake up!” She whispered frantically, but to no avail._

_‘Now, I am a Soldier….A lonely Soldier….away from home,’ The song continued, and Michael began to sing along angelically to the song._

_“Stop it!!!! Stop it! Why are you doing this?!” She gasped, tears trailing down her cheeks as the stereo became louder and louder, the speakers crackling with the effort to accommodate the increasing volume._

_‘Letters….never a letter…..I get no letters in the mail,’_

_Laurie grabbed her hairbrush and hurled it at Michael, gasping when his adult figure loomed in the doorway in place of the young and innocent boy that had stood there moments ago._

_“Just leave me alone! Please just leave me alone!” She cried helplessly as he stood in the doorway staring at her through his mask._

_“There’s blood on your hands Angel-baby….. you’re one of us now,” Deborah intoned with a psychotic grin._

_Laurie looked down at her hands and screamed as she saw a knife clotted with blood, her hands and forearms glistening with the stickiness of it._

_She dropped the knife in disgust, running passed them and out into the hall; screaming at the sight before her._

_Annie’s corpse lay lifeless and staring at the ceiling, her throat slit from ear to ear and her chest and stomach covered in thick blood._

_“Annie!! Oh God, Annie! Wake up, please, please, please wake up!” She begged, falling to her knees in despair._

_“She’s dead honey, she can’t hear you.” Deborah said serenely, laying a cold hand on her shoulder._

_“Don’t touch me! Don’t fucking touch me!!!” She screeched, pushing away from her and stumbling towards Lee’s room at the end of the hall._

_“Lee!!!! Lee, help me!!!” Laurie begged, sobbing hysterically as she ran into his room desperately; falling to her knees as she saw his lifeless body beside the bed, stab wounds to his chest and abdomen gaping and dripping blood onto the floor._

_“Lee!!!!!! No!!! No!” She screamed, sobbing uncontrollably, and crawling to his side._

_“You know what you are Angel, you can’t run from this. You know who you are…… you knew that this would happen,” Deborah said sadly as Laurie screamed and screamed until her throat was raw._


	3. Haunted Chapter 3: Undone

** Chapter 3: Undone **

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Lee sprang out of bed and turned on the lights when an inhuman shriek rent the air beside him as Laurie thrashed out in her sleep with enough force to nearly knock her off the bed.

“Laurie! Laurie, come on baby wake up. I’m here, come on Laurie.” He coaxed, shaking her gently and stroking the hair from her face.

Laurie thrashed violently again, missing his face by centimeters as she continued screaming and sobbing in her sleep; the nightmares hold on her firm and unrelenting.

“Laurie! Laurie, come back to me baby, come on.” He coaxed, holding her arms in place as she struggled to fight off whatever phantom was plaguing her.

“Laurie! Laurie, wake up!” He shouted, freezing in fear when he saw her eyes roll back into her head and felt her body stiffen in his arms. When she began convulsing he dived for his phone, yanking the entire charger out of the wall and dialing 911.

“911, what’s your emergency?” Gloria was apparently pulling a double again.

“Gloria, its Lee. I need an ambulance at my place immediately, Laurie is having some kind of seizure!” He gasped, catching her with one hand and pulling her to the middle of the king size bed before she convulsed herself onto the floor.

“Okay, I have paramedics on the way. Is she breathing Lee?” Gloria asked calmly.

“Yes, but please tell them to hurry!” He said urgently, turning Laurie onto her side to prevent her from choking or swallowing her tongue.

“They’re on their way Lee, are you home alone with Laurie? Can the paramedics get into your house?” She asked him and he nearly cursed Annie for not being present to help him.

“Annie is out, but there’s a spare key under the flowerpot on the porch they can use to get in.” He replied, relieved to hear sirens approaching.

He heard Gloria dispatching the information to the ambulance and minutes later the medics were racing up the stairs calling out to him.

“In here! We’re in here!” He called, nearly sobbing as Laurie began convulsing anew.

“Sheriff! When did this start? Is she epileptic? Medications?” Ben Harper asked as his team lifted Laurie onto a stretcher and strapped her in for safety sake.

“She used to have seizures when she was a kid sometimes, but she’s lived here for three years or so and this has never happened before! She’s taking Lexapro, Xanax, and Prazosin.” Lee replied, shoving his feet into his shoes and following them down the stairs as they maneuvered Laurie carefully.

“Got it down, we’ll forward it on to the ER.” Ben said over his shoulder as they got outside, and the other medics loaded her stretcher.

“Are you riding with us?” He asked and Lee nodded, climbing in beside Laurie, and taking a seat on the bench.

“I need thirty CC’s of Diazepam and we need to get a line started. Blood pressure?” Ben asked as the other medic handed the anti-convulsive medication over.

Ben injected her while Chris began reading her blood pressure, heart rate, and oxygen saturation.

“I got 201 over 124, heart rate elevated, and Oxygen at seventy percent and dropping.” Chris replied, shaking his head with a frown, and strapping an oxygen mask to her face.

“Forty CC’s of Lisinopril; we gotta get that pressure down, she’s in critical.” Ben said, getting an I.V. inserted and taping it in place, connecting a bag of fluid and injecting the Lisinopril into the line before capping it off.

“Oxygen up to seventy-five, pressure 191 over 101.” Chris reported, bracing himself as the ambulance hit a bump and jostled them.

“Is she gonna be okay?” Lee asked anxiously, eyes wide and face pale.

“We just need to get her as stable as possible, but once we get to the hospital and the doctors take over, she should respond well.” Ben assured, patting Lee on the shoulder as he took Laurie’s hand into his own and squeezed gently.

“What happened before the seizure? Was she awake or sleeping beforehand?” Ben asked, scribbling down her vitals.

“She was asleep, but she had a nightmare. She woke up screaming and I tried to wake her, but she was thrashing like crazy and screaming and sobbing; then the convulsions started. I don’t know what happened,” Lee confessed, at a loss for an explanation.

“From what it looks like, she’s suffered at least a mild cardiac event besides the grand mal seizure. They’ll need to do further tests at the hospital to confirm, but from what I can tell it looks like whatever she was dreaming about scared the hell out of her to say the least,” Ben said somberly.

“She does suffer from PTSD and major depression; you know from what happened with her Brother.” Lee explained; Ben had been one of the paramedics that had responded to his home the night Michael had nearly killed Annie and kidnapped Laurie.

Ben winced, nodding sympathetically.

They arrived at the hospital minutes later and wheeled Laurie straight into a room they had prepped in the ER. Ben handed over his report to the Head Nurse and wished Lee good luck before returning to the waiting ambulance outside.

“Sheriff Brackett, I’m Lisa Monroe and I’ll be the R.N. for the night, we need you to fill out some paperwork to the best of your ability for the patient. What’s your relationship to Ms. Strode?” She asked, waiting with her pen poised.

Lee knew from many dealings with the hospital in the past that they would never allow him full access to her unless they were immediate family; and the whole small shit town of Haddonfield knew who was related to whom by blood.

“She’s my fiancé,” He said, clearing his throat around the white lie.

He was almost certain that the news would be all over Haddonfield by Wednesday the latest.

“Okay, have a seat and take care of this paperwork for me while we get her stabilized and then I’ll bring you on back. Do you need any coffee or water or anything?” She asked.

“Coffee would be wonderful,” Lee sighed, knowing that it was going to be a long night.

It took nearly an hour to get Laurie’s blood pressure and heart rate back to normal, but when Lee was finally able to go to her room to see her, he was taken aback by what he saw.

“We have her on oxygen because due to the cardiac arrest, her saturations will take a while to return to normal. I’m happy to report that we do have the seizures under control, but she will definitely need to be placed on a regimen of medication for epilepsy when she goes home.” Dr. Ford explained when Lee looked so crestfallen at the sight of her on oxygen and connected to multiple bags of fluid. He could see wires where they had connected a heart monitor and a blood pressure cuff and pulse ox were taking readings at regular intervals.

“Is she going to be okay Was there any damage to her brain or her heart?” He asked.

“Well, we do need to run some further tests to be sure, but the preliminary findings we have actually look promising. Ms. Strode should be able to go home in a day or so. We just gave her a sedative to help her sleep and keep her calm for now,” Dr. Ford assured him.

Lee nodded and pulled a chair up closer to her bedside as the doctor excused himself and left.

“Laurie, you scared the bejesus outta me earlier.” He whispered, taking her hand into his own and frowning in concern when he felt how cold it was. He glimpsed a blanket folded neatly at her feet and tugged it up to cover her, wondering if she was feeling cold and couldn’t wake and express it.

Lee’s phone pinged and he sighed, wondering who the hell was texting him at this ungodly hour when he saw Gloria’s number flash across his screen asking if Laurie was alright.

Laurie stirred slowly, her eyes squinting open in confusion when she became aware of steady beeping sounds and a strange sterile smell.

When she made to reach for her glasses on the nightstand where she always put them when she went to bed, her hand encountered an obstacle that she wasn’t expecting; a bedrail.

Reality came crashing down on her as she bolted upright in a panic, ripping the pulse ox and blood pressure cuff off her arm and reaching for her I.V. next when a pair of strong arms stopped her.

“Laurie no! It’s okay, you need to lie down. Lie back down sweetie,” Lee urged, gripping her wrists and holding them in place as she struggled for a moment before meeting his gaze and going still.

“Lee! Oh my God,” She sobbed, throwing her arms around him and burying her face in his shirt.

“Shhh, it’s okay. Everything’s fine, I promise.” He soothed as the day nurse Rochelle came racing in at the sound of alarms blaring due to her blood pressure cuff being unable to get a reading.

“Is everything okay here? We have to keep these on for now Honey,” She said, coming around to replace the equipment.

“What happened? Where’s Annie?” She croaked, looking between Lee and the Nurse with fear in her eyes.

“Annie? I’m guessing she’s still out with her college friends, why?” Lee asked perplexed when he saw Laurie relax visibly and shake her head.

“What happened? Why am I here?!” She gasped, but Lee was coaxing her to lie back and relax while Rochelle went to bring her water.

“You had a really bad night terror and it lead to a seizure and a very minor cardiac arrest, but everything is okay, and they just ran a few tests to make sure that you’ll be okay when you go home but everything looks real good.” Lee said soothingly, but Laurie was trembling inside and she couldn’t stop.

“I killed you,” She murmured, tears trailing down her cheeks.

“What?” Lee asked in confusion.

“I killed you! And Annie! My Mother and my Brother were there, and I was covered in blood and I had a knife and-

Lee embraced her when she sat up again in panic and held her as she sobbed against his chest.

“Laurie, it was just a dream. A really bad dream, but everything is fine sweetheart. You have to relax,” He said as Rochelle reappeared with a hypo filled with tramadol.

“Lee, what if it’s true? What if I’m like my Brother and I just snap one day and kill you? What if-

Laurie felt the sting of the needle as Lee held her still for Rochelle to finish the injection.

“No! Why did you do that?! I can’t go back to sleep! I need to leave here! I need to leave before I hurt someone!” She sobbed hysterically as the heart monitor began beeping rapidly and she collapsed, convulsions wracking her body as the doctor came running in with two more nurses.

Lee stepped away in shock, one of the nurses telling him to keep out of the way while they got things back under control.

The seizure was only seconds long, but for Lee it felt like it had lasted hours as they gave her another bolus of Diazepam and settled her unconscious form back into bed comfortably.

“She should rest comfortably now,” Rochelle assured him, but he had his head in his hands and didn’t respond as Laurie lay motionless before him once more.

_Laurie awoke with a start, back on the ground in a grassy tree line but it was dusk, and she could hear cars passing by somewhere close-by as she struggled to her feet to try to get her bearings. She glanced around herself; looking for her Brother or her Mother but she appeared to be alone for now._

_A small part of her was relieved for the solitude as she stumbled closer to the sounds of traffic to see if she could spot anything remotely familiar to her as Lee had suggested she do._

_Lee._

_Her heart squeezed and her stomach felt hollow at the memory of the vivid nightmare and the murders she had committed in it, and the fear and dread she felt as she questioned what was happening to her_ _resurfaced with a vengeance._

_Though it would kill her, literally rip her heart to pieces; she would have to get away from Lee and Annie. It was the only way that she could protect them from herself, just in case she did snap one day and become her Brother….._

_When Laurie reached the road, the sun had sunk behind the trees on the other side and the moon was becoming visible through the twilight. She shrugged as she left the line of trees to walk along the road, but halted when she spotted a sign in the distance; Illinois Route 74 stood in bold black letters on a shiny white sign, and just beyond that a second sign was visible but the letters were too faded to read from the distance she was standing._

_She sighed and rolled her eyes. Even these fucked up middle of nowhere dreams she was having couldn’t just be simple, now could they?_

_Laurie stomped up the road towards the two signs, just becoming aware that she was in jeans, her hoodie, and black converse shoes. She felt around in her pockets, hoping for a weapon or even her cell phone, but to no avail. Then again, she supposed that she should be grateful that she hadn’t landed in the middle of bum-fuck in her hospital gown and slippy-socks with an I.V. still in the crook of her arm._

_Beggars can’t be choosers._

_When she got closer, she read the fading white lettering with a squint; realizing belatedly that her glasses didn’t work that well from a distance in the dark._

_‘Happy Field Farms: Where your meat lives a happy life until it reaches your table’ The sign boasted creepily, making Laurie shudder involuntarily. There was a reason that she was a vegetarian._

_She paused uncertainly, pinching herself over and over again in an attempt to wake up. She had the info that Lee told her to collect if she could, there was no reason to try to stay now, was there?_

_But stay she would apparently, because no amount of pinching, scratching, or even throwing herself desperately against a tree had any efficacy at waking her._

_Laurie could make out an unpaved service road that appeared to lead to the ‘Happiest farm on earth’ beyond the faded sign and swallowed thickly; bracing herself for what she might find beyond it._

_She had only taken a few tentative steps down the leaf strewn path when dizziness overtook her once again as it had before, and the forest whooshed passed her in a blur until—_

Laurie gasped awake, sitting bolt upright in the hospital bed. She looked around in confusion for a moment before she realized by the blackness at her window that it was some time at night. Her heart squeezed in her chest with a pang that was both guilt and love when she saw Lee fast asleep in a recliner feet away from her bed, his face peaceful in slumber.

Laurie swallowed the lump in her throat and gathered her courage and her wits. She needed to get away from Lee before she did something that would ultimately destroy her, but she needed a plan too because fuck all if the alarms on her medical equipment sounded and alerted the nurses and Lee himself that she was making a break for it.

She looked at the blood pressure cuff and the pulse ox whose wires seemed to be connected to the same machine, which was connected to the same plug in the wall. Her I.V. was connected to another machine which was connected to the other plug in the wall; hence a shoddy plan was born into existence to unplug everything and _then_ disconnect herself from it.

Laurie scooted to the end of the bed carefully and quietly, even the soft rustle of the sheets sounding loud enough to wake Lee as she moved gingerly into a standing position before tip-toeing past Lee’s sleeping form along the side of her bed until she could reach the cords and pull them out of the wall. She squeezed her eyes shut for a moment, waiting to see if she had tripped some other alarm that she wasn’t aware of, but silence thankfully prevailed as she slipped out of the blood pressure cuff and unclipped the pulse ox.

The last and hardest part would be the I.V., which she decided to carefully unscrew from the tubing and simply cap it off rather than attempt to take it out herself silently right now; she decided to rip it out later somewhere where she could scream loudly from the pain and not be overheard (hopefully).

Casting around silently she sighed inwardly as she realized that Lee had more than likely had her rushed here at night emergently as her clothes, glasses, and purse were nowhere in sight. The only thing left to do was try to sneak past the nurses station and pray that she could get to the stairs or (less than likely) an elevator. She wasn’t sure how far she could get at all in a fucking hospital gown and brown slippy-socks, truth be told.

But she had to try.

The door to her room was ajar and she heard nothing beyond it except for the occasional ping or beep of medical equipment from neighboring patients rooms.

When Laurie peeked her head out and looked both ways, she sighed in relief when she saw that the hallway was thankfully deserted and the nurses station was nearly at the end of the hall to her right; where one nurse sat typing on a computer with her back to her and another nurse sat next to her eating something, her attention on her plate.

_Left it is,_ she decided, making a silent break for it, and turning left down the hall, walking quickly passed other rooms where the patient’s appeared to be sleeping. A digital clock over a door labeled “Locker room” told her that it was 3:26 AM; Laurie reached for the door know quietly, not daring to hope but giving an inward cheer when it turned, and she was able to slip into the deserted room and close the door softly behind her.

She didn’t dare to turn on the larger overhead light as she made her way to a set of shelves that held neatly folded scrubs in various sizes. Laurie grabbed a top and a bottom from the ‘Size Medium’ shelf and skittered into a row of deserted lockers to change her clothes quickly, stuffing her hospital gown into a locker at random, where she found one of the nurses belongings stashed.

Normally, she abhorred taking things that didn’t belong to her, but right now, she was in a bind and would give the items back to the hospital for the nurse to collect as soon as she could at a later date. After a furtive glance towards the door, she took the book bag down from its shelf and unzipped it quickly; sighing in relief when she saw a pair of sneakers.

The shoes were a size too big, but with the help of the thicker anti-slip socks and lacing them up extra tightly, she was able to fit them comfortably. The rest of the items wouldn’t be of any help to her, so she stashed the bag back into the locker and shut it softly before moving back towards the door in trepidation.

Laurie’s luck seemed to have been holding out though as she made it back into the hall and continued walking down it opposite the nurses station until the hallway forked and she took a right towards a sign that pointed her towards the elevators.

When the shiny metal doors opened with a ding, she winced and glanced around her; but the hall where she stood was deserted, so she hurried into the waiting car and pressed the door close button rapidly until it shut and began moving downwards, taking her to the ground floor.

She folded her arms across her chest just as the doors opened in an effort to hide the capped I.V. that was still taped into place at the crook of her arm, but the lone security guard was dozing at his post and the two other staff members in the reception area were busy chatting and didn’t give her a second glance.

She supposed that the scrubs made her look passable enough that she didn’t stick out from the dozens of other scrub-wearing nurses, techs, and doctors that passed by day in and day out.

As soon as she made it out into the parking lot without incident, she made a mad dash for the tree line beyond; wanting to put as much distance between herself and the hospital as possible, but wanting to avoid downtown Haddonfield as well in case she was spotted by any of the officers on patrol or even worse; Annie.

She wasn’t exactly thrilled at the idea of returning to the home that she had shared with her adoptive parents, but she had a decent amount of cash stashed there as well as clothes. Though the home had been left to her in the Strode’s Will, she had never been able to stay there after their murder; hence the fact that she had been living with Lee and Annie, and she couldn’t stay there this time either.

She had to get the hell out of Haddonfield to protect the people she loved most from herself.

Laurie finally made it into the woods just as she heard sirens in the distance approaching the hospital, wondering if it was an ambulance or if Lee had awoken to find her missing and sent some of his squad to start searching the area.

She knew that if she kept flowing the road through the tree line heading away from downtown, she would eventually get to the suburban neighborhood where her old home stood. Laurie shivered in the dark, seeing clouds of mist from her breath in the moonlight and cursing the thin cotton scrubs that she had escaped in; hoping that she could make it where she needed to go before she froze to death.

Lee sat up with a kink in his neck from falling asleep in an awkward position in the chair before bolting out of it at the sight of the deserted hospital bed and the unplugged equipment. He raced into the hall, shouting for the nurses before casting furtive glances around the room, but there was no note, no clue as to where Laurie may have snuck off to.

“What happened?!” the Nurse asked, eyes widening and face going pale when she saw the empty hospital bed.

“You tell me! Alert security that she’s gone and tell whoever is in charge of this shit show that I need to see the surveillance footage for this floor, the elevators, the stairwells, and the ground level immediately” Lee shouted, digging his cell phone out of his pocket and dialing up dispatch to get a few cars out on the search for her.

Lee dialed Annie next, sighing in relief when she picked up on the third ring. He could hear a few girls giggling in the background as well as some weird trance-like rock music.

“Dad? What’s wrong?” She asked, sounding fuzzy.

“Shit, are you drinking?” He asked, trying not to sound too exasperated that he couldn’t really count on her sobriety much nowadays.

“A little? Why? What’s going on?” She asked again, sounding a bit more alert than when she had answered.

But only a bit.

“Listen, long story short, Laurie had a heart attack and a seizure in her sleep yesterday and I was in the hospital with her, but she’s run off because she had a night terror where she dreamt that she had murdered both of us, and she’s terrified of becoming like her Brother and actually doing it for real. Just so you’re aware, there’s a shit-ton of medical records from the passed two days that proves that she isn’t faking it for attention, so if you run into her don’t give her your usual shit and just try to help her. You think that you can do that?” Lee said irritably.

Annie paused, swallowing thickly as she fought back guilty tears.

“Yeah of course. Look, I’ll grab a coffee and sober up a bit and drive back home-

“No! I don’t want you on the road at all until all of that shit’s out of your system. I don’t need to be worried about you and Laurie,” He sighed, hanging up and texting one of his deputies to come pick him up in an hour so they could drop him at home to get his car to search for her.

He needed to take a look at those surveillance videos first, hopefully they would give him a clue as to where she had gone.

Laurie’s entire body was quaking from the beginning Autumn frost of the early morning hours, she was walking slower and slower and her toes and fingertips were numb. She had no idea how long she had been walking, but she couldn’t believe that she had miscalculated the distance between the hospital and the house she had grown up in.

The sky above her was lightening considerably into blue-gray dawn that reminded her of the color of Lee’s eyes and a tiny sob escaped her as she thought of the man she loved but had to leave behind.

She stumbled along in a frozen haze, trying desperately to pick up her pace to get to her destination faster when a barking and snarling made her blood turn to ice in her veins.

Laurie had recalled reading somewhere that you shouldn’t run from a dog because that provoked their predatory nature, so turned around slowly until she came face to face with the largest Saint Bernard she had ever seen.

“Alright Trapper! Shut the hell up!!!” A feminine voice called, and Laurie spotted a woman in her mid to late 30’s with long brown hair and blue-grey eyes reminiscent of the man that had been preoccupying her brain only moments ago.

“He’s a barker, not a biter Honey. No need to worry,” The woman assured her kindly, removing her coat and placing it around Laurie’s shivering shoulders.

“Oh no, I c-c-couldn’t” Laurie said shakily, but the woman shook her head and placed an almost mothering arm around her.

“Don’t think anything of it! My house is just up passed that clearing there, I was just about to have breakfast after my morning walk with big mouth over there. Why don’t you join me? I’m Mable, by the way; Mable Brackett.” She replied, leading Laurie to the house gently.

“Are you related to the Sheriff? Lee Brackett?” Laurie asked shakily, unable to control her shivering any longer and leaning against Mable more heavily than she meant to.

“Yep, I’m Lee’s Sister.” Mable replied, giving Laurie pause as she tried to jog her memory. Lee did mention having a Sister, but he never talked about her much; and Annie had only mentioned having an Aunt in passing who had moved out of state when she was little.

By the time they had reached Mable’s house, Laurie couldn’t speak her teeth were chattering so badly; but her condition didn’t seem to perturb the redhead much as she helped her up the steps with a strong arm and led her inside.

Laurie nearly sobbed in relief when she was met by the sight of a crackling fire and a large comfy sofa in front of it. She sank into the cushions bonelessly as Mable took a thick blanket from the back of the sofa and wrapped it around Laurie, urging her to lay back and put her feet up.

“Do you like coffee? I had just put a pot on before Trapper and I went out,” She offered, to which Laurie could only nod shakily.

“Great! Cream and sugar okay?” She asked as she went to pour her a large, steaming mug.

“S-s-sugar only please,” Laurie replied, not sure if her stomach could hold down any dairy right now.

“Coming right up,” Mable replied, handing her the mug, and pulling the blanket closer around her shoulders.

“I was planning on making waffles this morning, but I can get you whatever you want if that doesn’t sound appealing.” She said hospitably.

“S-sounds really good,” Laurie stuttered, to which Mable nodded and returned to the kitchen behind her.

After a few minutes, Laurie had improved significantly enough to look around at the beauty of the large cabin she found herself in, which appeared to be all polished wood and glass in a sprawling and open floor plan. Trapper wandered over to Laurie and began sniffing her and wagging his large plumy tail.

Laurie reached out and tentatively began to stroke his head; which seemed about as large as her entire lap.

“See what I mean? He’s just an overgrown puppy dog,” Mable laughed as she began mixing waffle batter.

Laurie gave a small, tired smile as she glanced up at the frames on the mantlepiece; one of which held a Doctorate certificate from John Hopkin’s university for behavioral science. Just beyond that was a very outdated picture of Mable, Annie, and Lee together as well as several pictures of Trapper.

“You’re a Psychiatrist?” Laurie asked, her voice already much improved by the warmth of the coffee and the warmth of the fire.

“I used to be in practice, but I’m a professor now. All of the classes I do are online now though, so I don’t leave home much.” Mable replied, waiting until Trapper had Laurie distracted once more before she texted Lee that she had found his missing girl and she was fine, but to wait awhile before coming to collect her.

When Mable had finished cooking she motioned for Laurie to join her at the table and the two tucked into a breakfast of homemade waffles, sweet peaches, and whipped cream.

“I think you missed your calling in life, you should’ve been a chef!” Laurie said as she savored the waffles with relish.

“Nah, I hate to cook.” Mable replied and they both laughed.

“Laurie, I haven’t been completely honest with you. Lee called ahead and asked me to take Trapper and go out looking for you, he was worried sick.” Mable said, seeing Laurie pale before moving to get up from the table and bolt for the door, but Mable’s hand on her arm stopped her.

“He also told me that you’ve been having some very unusual dreams because he thought that I might be able to help you better than Barbara Collier can,” She explained, and Laurie felt a twinge of anger at the mention of her current (and completely inept) Psychologist.

“No offense, but a fucking bag of peanuts could probably be of better assistance than that bitch,” Laurie replied, her eyes flashing with frustration.

“I agree. There’s also a topic that Lee and I are at odds with each other on, but I think that it would help you to know more about sooner rather than later. How much do you know about Daniel?” Mable asked, looking at Laurie as though she was supposed to know about who she was talking about.

“Who?” She asked cluelessly, sitting down beside her once again.

“Daniel? Your Father, Daniel Myers?” Mable pressed, but Laurie shrugged.

“My adoptive parents told me he had died just after I was born; that it was some kind of freak accident that they didn’t know much about.” She shrugged, not understanding what her long-dead biological Father had to do with anything.

“Well, that’s true. Daniel did die in a fire just after you were born, but it’s not really his death I wanted to tell you about; this is more about his life.” Mable said, topping off each of their coffee cups.

“What about it?” Laurie asked guardedly, not comprehending why this conversation was necessary.

Her life was painful enough without bringing up all of the dead people in it.

“Laurie, we all grew up together. Your Father was ahead of Lee by a couple of years, but Lee was always very mature for his age and we only lived a few houses down from your Dad’s parents’ house. Back then, all the neighborhood kids were pretty much friendly with each other; it was a different kind of life than what kids around here have nowadays. Well, Lee and I were born a year apart and we were inseparable growing up; I would follow Lee everywhere! So, when Lee hung out with Daniel, I usually tagged along.” Mable reminisced sadly.

“Oh….kay?” Laurie said, as though she just wanted Mable to get to the point.

“Well, there used to be a set of train tracks at the edge of town that we used to walk along and it was pretty dangerous; the trains that traveled down those tracks were freight trains and there were no railroad crossings at the parts we walked down; it was almost like playing chicken, so to speak. We were all pretty young and stupid with nothing much to do besides exploring Haddonfield in the summer and our parents felt confident enough for some reason that we were all relatively safe within its confines. When we started hanging out with Daniel, he used to do this thing where he would be able to tell everyone exactly what time a train would be coming by so we would know when to jump off the tracks precisely. We used to laugh and call him Conductor Dan; Lee was bound and determined that Dan had gotten ahold of the trains schedules or some such nonsense, because how else would he have known? But there were other games…… other things that became less and less explainable over time.” Mable recalled, a light of nostalgia in her eyes.

“Like what?” Laurie asked softly, her curiosity peaked.

“The more we hung around Dan, the more comfortable he got with us and the more he trusted us and began to open up about his….gift. There were small things at first; like the trains, then there was dreaming about all of the answers on a pop quiz that the teacher sprung on him the next day; or missing cat and dog posters on poles Downtown and Dan leading us right to where the missing pet actually was and we’d collect the $10 reward for it. Whenever we would go to the movies, Lee would forbid Dan from telling us exactly how the movie was going to progress; which characters were going to live and die, etc. All the way up until the beginning of one school year where Dan came knocking on our door early one morning as we were sitting down to breakfast white as a sheet. He said he had had a terrible dream about one of the girls that lived down the street from us, and he was so terrified, and the dream was so vivid that he wanted to warn her about what he had seen. Lee had agreed that we would accompany Dan for moral support as the girl, Beatrice was one of the most popular girls at school and she was a mean little snob. There was a beginning of the school year dance and everyone from Lee’s year and above were going; it was all anyone could talk about, but Dan had had a dream that Beatrice was walking home alone after the dance and someone pulled up alongside the road and snatched her. For my sake, Lee didn’t let me hear the rest of Dan’s dream because he said it wasn’t for a woman’s ears to hear; but he looked just as pale as Dan did when he had heard the conclusion of what had happened to Beatrice Lutino at the end of the dream. Before we went over to her house, Lee and Dan had worked out what Dan was going to tell her, but she called Dan a freak and laughed it off as a hoax. ‘You better stick to train schedules, Conductor Dan’ she had said. Well, Dan had the same awful dream every single night for the entire week leading up to the dance and on the day of the dance itself, he didn’t even want to go anymore.” Mable set aside her coffee cup and sighed, biting her lip before continuing.

“Lee and Dan didn’t really have dates to take to the dance, but everyone was going regardless, so Lee convinced Dan to just go and try not to think about Beatrice. He reasoned that they had warned her, what else could they possibly do if she wasn’t going to listen? So Dan went, and he seemed relieved when he saw that Beatrice was there with one of the jocks; surely she would be fine now, since he was one of the few guys in Dan’s class that had a car of his own. But, by the end of the night they had had an argument about something and he had left with another girl and Beatrice was in such a mood that when Dan and Lee had approached her and offered to walk her home, she had told them to take a hike in much less friendly terms. So the boys left the dance without her; your Father never forgave himself for that.” Mable sighed shakily as Laurie took in the information agape.

“So…. Beatrice; She died or…?” She surmised and Mable nodded.

“She was kidnapped, and she was missing for about a week before they found her body in the woods. She had been raped and tortured before they had killed her. Dan had gone to the police as soon as she had gone missing and tried to tell them what happened and after a few days, his tips had even led them to her body; so they wasted no time in arresting Dan and charging him with the murder. In their backasswards minds, it was the only logical explanation as to how he knew so many details. You know that our Father used to be the Sheriff of Haddonfield too?” Mable asked her, but Laurie shook her head, a shocked look on her face.

“Lee was a key part of them clearing Dan’s name, along with a couple of chaperones at the dance that witnessed Lee and Dan leaving at least an hour before Beatrice had left, as well as both our Father and Dan’s parents timeline’s of when the boys returned home coinciding. The charges against Dan were dropped, but they never found the killer and it’s a cold case that haunts Lee to this day.” Mable intimated, which made Laurie’s heart sink as she thought about her vivid nightmare where she had murdered Lee and Annie.

“But don’t you understand? That’s why I have to get away from Lee and Annie! I dreamt that I killed them! What if I’m going to snap and lose my fucking mind and-

“That isn’t going to happen, Laurie. Those dreams; the ones that you have about becoming like Michael and killing Annie and Lee are coming from a part of your psyche that somehow feels responsible for your Brother’s actions and his attack on Annie; which I know that you blame yourself for. There is also something else that you should know; something that might put your mind at ease, as disturbing as it is.” Mable said, causing Laurie to wonder what the hell she could possibly know that would make her feel any better.

“What is it?” Laurie prompted, unsure if she wanted any more information about her crazy ass family.

Mable sighed and swallowed thickly before continuing.

“Just before you were born, I received a panicked call from Lee while I was out of state at a conference in Boston. He had received a late night visit from Dan and Dan was more distraught than Lee had ever seen him, even worse than when he had come to us about Beatrice. He told Lee that he had had a dream about Michael, and it scared the living daylights out of him,” She said shakily, watching as Laurie blanched at the revelation.

“He knew? He had seen what was going to happen?” Laurie asked softly, unable to suppress a shudder at the thought.

“In Dan’s dream, he saw Michael holding you in as a baby in a blanket and he was covered in blood. He saw the dead body of your older Sister Judith and some others that he didn’t recognize; which turned out to be your Mother’s boyfriend and your Sister’s boyfriend, eventually he saw your Mother’s body as well; but he also saw somehow that he was going to pass his gift on to you and that you were going to be very special; which is why he wanted to name you Angel, even though I know that you hate that name.” Mable said tearfully, the memories of her old friend palpable.

“So, he knew that Michael was an evil little shit and he just sat back and did nothing?!” Laurie snapped incredulously.

“No! It tore him to pieces, but he knew that he had to kill Michael before Michael killed everyone else! Lee begged him not to do anything rash, but Dan was determined to try to stop his Son from doing such unspeakable things. He decided after a lot of painstaking research to try to just give Michael an overdose of sleeping pills hidden in some soup, but Michael could tell something was off about your Father’s behavior, so he refused to eat it. Dan decided to take Michael on a camping trip and do it then after that, but Michael no longer trusted Dan and set fire to the cabin they were staying in while Dan was asleep. Dan’s remains were found on the floor of the master bedroom with his skull caved in, but the fire marshal had just blamed it on a fall when Dan tried to escape from the fire. Lee broke into Dad’s records to read the report and he knew that what Dan had dreamt had begun to come to pass, but he couldn’t prove it. A little over two years later when Deborah Myers committed suicide and Lee answered the 911 call, he was just a deputy under Dad’s supervision and Annie’s mom had just lost her battle to cancer and he couldn’t bare to see Dan’s only surviving child carry the stigma of what Michael had wrought. He omitted you from the report and drove you to Peoria to a hospital in the hopes that you could have a chance at a normal life away from here, but as you know, the Strode’s adopted you and back to Haddonfield you came.” Mable finished, allowing Laurie to bury her face in her shoulder as she cried; the weight of it all so much to bear.


	4. Haunted Chapter 4: A Revelation And A New Plan

** Haunted Chapter 4: A Revelation And A New Plan **

****

****

Mable bustled Laurie off to the guest room after breakfast, giving her a pair of comfortable sweats, a sports bra, and a t-shirt to put on in place of the pilfered scrubs; which were mud spattered in a few places and looked about as worse for the wear as Laurie felt.

She sighed in relief when she saw the ample ensuite bathroom and stripped, climbing into the shower under a hot spray and trying to wash her cares away as she did so.

Laurie recalled Lee’s words to her in the hospital, which had given her pause as she tried to recall how long it had been since she had actually had a seizure. It was probably when she was still in grade school, before she and Annie were even friends. She felt guilty that Lee had had to see her like that; it must have scared the shit out of him to say the least, but other than her vivid nightmares, she couldn’t remember anything at all.

Lee and Annie.

What was she going to do now?

She knew running away from them wasn’t the easiest thing to do; emotionally especially. Was Mabel right? Was the nightmare about their murders just over her guilt about her Brother? Were the other dreams ever going to stop? If she did have her Father’s ability, why had it just started to appear now?

Was it safe to stay with Lee and Annie? Could she trust herself?

Prior to her Brother’s attack and kidnap, if anyone would have asked her if she was comfortable in the knowledge of who she was and what she believed in and what she was and wasn’t capable of, she wouldn’t have hesitated to tell you yes. Laurie’s adoptive parents had told her early on in her childhood that she had been adopted; had shown her pictures of her parents and her siblings. When she had asked questions about what happened and was too young to comprehend murder or suicide, they had told her that her parents and her sister got sick and went to heaven and her Brother was in a special hospital, but he was too sick to see people or to come out. As the years went by and Laurie began to lay awake at night studying the pictures of her biological family as they smiled back at her, she began to wonder if her Brother were laying in the hospital thinking about her too.

“I want to see Michael. There has to be a way,” She had announced on her twelfth birthday over breakfast before school.

Mason Strode exchanged worried glances with his wife before clearing his throat and setting his silverware down.

“That’s just not possible Laurie…..I’m sorry,” He apologized as she looked at her adoptive parents nonplussed.

“Why? Because he’s sick? Can’t I just talk to him through plexiglass or something? I mean, what does he have anyways?” She persisted, seeing the looks of trepidation on their faces.

Then they explained what had happened, with the most minimal detailing as possible and Laurie had sat there stunned.

She had been angry with them at first. Why had they lied to her? Could she trust them about anything else they had to say?

They allowed Laurie to stay home from school for several days, took her to see a councilor since she wasn’t speaking to them about anything, and worried and fretted over her until she couldn’t stand it anymore and just asked them for some time and a little space.

Laurie continued to see the councilor for several months, but at the end of it she had been deemed completely normal and the sessions ended with her being in a good state of mental health.

Now, years later after her Brother had kidnapped her and tried to kill her, had killed one of her best friends and her adoptive parents, and had nearly killed Annie, everything about herself had come into question.

Was it really just Michael suffering from this psychosis? Did it run in her family? What the hell had happened to make him snap if it didn’t?

She shut off the shower, dried herself off quickly, and dressed in her borrowed clothes; determined that if she was going to stay here and (possibly) endanger the man she loved and her (now-estranged) best friend, that she needed some answers about Michael and his past.

She was almost certain that Mable Brackett could give her some answers.

When she exited the guest room, she caught the sound of Lee’s anxious voice from downstairs and the sounds of Mable doing the dishes. Taking the stairs as fast as she could, she nearly jogged to the kitchen and threw herself into Lee’s arms; her heart soaring when she felt him wrap her in his warm embrace, the scent of his cologne and a recently smoked cigarette as well as recently consumed coffee overwhelming her senses.

“You scared me shitless Laurie! God!” Lee nearly sobbed, crashing his lips to hers despite Mable’s presence beside them.

“OH MY FUCKING GOD!!!! FINALLY!!!” Annie crowed from the doorway, dropping her purse and her keys, and running to give them both a hug.

Laurie and Lee broke apart guiltily, but Annie was all smiles as she embraced them both, wearing the first genuine smile that Laurie had seen on her face in a long time.

“Nice to see you too,” Mable announced, looking for all the world like she felt like chopped liver.

“Sorry Auntie May, but this has been in the works for years now! I’m still not calling you Mom though, cause that would be just way too weird,” Annie said, hugging Mable hello.

Laurie blushed scarlet and lowered her gaze.

“It’s not like we…… well we haven’t……it’s not like that.” She stuttered out lamely.

“Well get a move on, because Dad is not getting any younger!” She exclaimed.

“Annie!!!” Both Laurie and Lee admonished in unison, each turning their own particular shade of tomato red as Annie snickered.

“Don’t think that I don’t smell that cigarette on you either!” She admonished, making Lee roll his eyes heavenward.

“Have a child they said, it’ll be fun they said. Don’t think that you’re off the hook for driving while recently drunk either! I clearly stated that I didn’t want you on the road until all that shit was out of your system!” He countered, trying his best to sound as stern as possible.

“Dad, that was hours ago! How long do you think a buzz lasts? I’ve been at all night keggers and still showed up to class at 9am sharp with about two hours of sleep under my belt! Trust me, I got this.” Annie replied, waving off his concern.

“I only texted you that I was at your Aunt’s to keep you abreast of the situation! Not to drag you out onto the road,” Lee sighed.

“Okay everyone! Let’s just sit down and try not to kill one another, I love family therapy sessions, don’t you?” Mable teased Laurie as she led them back to the living room where they could all sit down and process everything that was going on.

“So what the fuck? You just escaped from the hospital without them clearing you? Don’t you need, like, seizure meds and stuff?” Annie asked Laurie pointedly.

“I have her scripts in the car, but she will need to follow up with her primary within a week.” Lee stated, accepting a second cup of coffee from his Sister gratefully.

“Wow! Way to pull the Sheriff’s card! There’s no way that you’d have gotten all of that otherwise, I mean hospitals are so spaz about shit like that; they normally won’t do anything like that unless you’re family,” Annie said, effectively making Lee cough a bit on the sip of coffee he was drinking.

“Are you okay?” Laurie asked as he set his cup down and cleared his throat.

“Well….. I kind of made up a little white lie while I was in there, because they demanded to know what my relationship was to you and since everyone knows everyone else in this shit little town, I was left with very few options.” Lee said apologetically.

“Okay….. meaning what? What did you say? Just so I can go along with it, because I’m sure the gossip is going to get around.” Laurie asked curiously.

“I said you were my Fiancée,” Lee admitted, making Laurie blush, Annie whoop, and Mable gasp; all simultaneously.

“Jesus Dad! Hit the gas much?” Annie laughed, but Lee threw his hands into the air.

“What else was I supposed to say?! Especially when the nurse busts into the room and puts me on the spot,” He reasoned, looking completely and almost adorably out of sorts.

“It’s fine.” Laurie interrupted softly.

Lee looked at her wide-eyed for a moment in bewilderment as though he were wondering if he had even heard her correctly.

“Look, our “engagement” is the least of our worries right now. I had another dream last night, before I left the hospital…. That’s what woke me up.” She said nervously, seeing both Lee and Mabel lean forward with interest.

“No offense, but you have nightmares every night, you and Dad could be together for decades and that would probably never change.” Annie said dismissively, earning a glare from Lee.

“Annie, I still don’t need you to give Laurie anymore shit.” He said, digging a small memo book out of his pocket.

“I don’t know if it had to do with Mr. Lonely; that’s what I call him now, because I realized that that’s the song that he was whistling.” She explained, watching Lee scribble down the name of the song.

“Okay, what else can you remember?” Mable asked, a bit more eagerly than she had meant to.

Laurie paused, looking at Annie and then studying her folded hands in her lap.

“Do you want me to leave?” Annie dead-panned, thinking for all the world that this was some kind of hokey therapy session.

“What’s the point? You already think that I’m insane,” Laurie replied.

“Ladies, please! Laurie, tell me about the dreams. Tell me about Mr. Lonely,” Mable persisted, and Annie looked at them all as if they’d lost their minds.

So Laurie took a deep and steadying breath and reiterated everything that she had told Lee, even explaining about the missing person’s poster from the Police Station and Lee added in what he had been emailed from the Sheriff’s office in Peoria regarding the girls description matching the description of the girl in the dream.

“Just like Daniel with Beatrice,” Mable said, looking at Lee in shock.

“If this shit is real, then how come she never saw her lunatic fuck of a Brother coming to kill everyone around her?” Annie interrupted, causing Laurie to flinch and Lee to look apoplectic with anger.

“Annie, I don’t know what the hell is wrong with you, but you need to right it. Now,” Lee said, his voice calm, but his emotions roiling.

“Why? I mean, it’s a good question isn’t it?” Annie persisted.

“I wish I had a fucking answer for you Annie! Don’t you think that I wish that I had an answer for myself? Do you think that I wanted him to break out and kill everyone?!” Laurie cried, the faces of her adoptive parents and Lynda flashing before her eyes in her guilt.

“Whatever, this is bullshit.” Annie shrugged, getting up and grabbing her purse and keys.

“Annie! What in the hell has gotten into you?” Lee demanded crossly, rising from his seat as well.

“Why? Do you even really want to know? I mean, aren’t we all just concerned about Laurie here? Get a grip Dad. I’m happy that the two of you finally got your shit together and have each other because that means I can get the fuck outta dodge without feeling guilty about it!” She spat, stomping towards the door.

“What are you talking about? Where are you going?” Lee asked her, bewildered.

“Anywhere!” She shouted, slamming the door in Lee’s face.

Moments later, they heard her car peel off and Laurie stood in the middle of the living room feeling lost.

“I’m sorry,” She murmured to Lee, retaking her seat, her shoulders slumped.

“Laurie, you don’t have anything to be sorry about.” Lee assured her, taking the seat beside her, and holding her hand.

“Lee is right; I don’t know what kinda bug my Niece has up her ass, but you aren’t at fault here. Not for any of this,” Mable assured her, handing Laurie some tissues and nudging her cup of coffee closer to her.

“In the new dream, from last night….. there were signs; one said Illinois Route 74, the other said Happy Field Farms.” She said, looking between the two of them hopefully.

Lee scribbled the information down in his memo pad and pulled out his cell phone, googling the name of the farm in question, but nothing came up in Illinois or Indiana.

“Let me email the Sheriff’s out there again, I think it was Sheriff Pike if I remember right.” Lee said thoughtfully, looking through his phone.

“What?! What do you mean just email him? So he can think I’m a psycho, just like Annie does?” Laurie asked shrilly, but Lee shook his head.

“I’m just going to ask him if he recalls a Happy Field Farm anywhere in or near Peoria, just because the farm isn’t listed on google maps anymore doesn’t mean that it never existed. Maybe it got sold or maybe its abandoned, but its worth a shot.” Lee explained, but Laurie just sighed and shook her head.

“This is insane,” She muttered, feeling more and more out of touch with reality.

“Laurie, I know this is hard and I can’t even begin to imagine what you’re going through, but Lee and I are here for you and I’m going to help you. If you feel more comfortable talking with me than Dr. Collier, I’d be happy to take over your care plan, even though I don’t normally practice anymore.” Mable offered and Laurie nodded gratefully.

“I’d feel a lot better to talk with someone that actually knows what they’re doing and has experience with…… whatever it is my Dad had,” She admitted.

“Good, I’ll have you fill out some paperwork to transfer your file over and I’ll take a look at your medications and we can go from there. There is one thing that we may have to do for the time being, just until this mystery of the missing girl is solved,” Mable said, knowing already that Laurie wasn’t going to like this suggestion.

“What is it?” Laurie asked, sensing Mable’s hesitation.

“Normally, I would never, under any circumstances suggest what I am about to suggest; but in your case I believe that it’s necessary if we want to find this girl. We need to stop the prazosin temporarily and let these dreams come uninhibited,” Mable said, holding up a hand as Lurie balked, rising from her seat beside Lee.

“We can control the seizures and the high blood pressure and such that comes with them, but we need you to see what is trying to be shown to you. I know that what I’m suggesting is hard, but I believe that with some mind-training exercises and mild hypnotic suggestion, we can help you take more control when you have nightmares and retain a clearer head during them so that you don’t wake up in such a panic. Are you willing to let me try Laurie?” Mable asked as Laurie paced and grasped fistfuls of her hair.

“I can’t do this anymore….. All I want is for all of this shit to stop! I want a normal fucking life! Why is all of this shit always happening to me?” She asked, her frustration palpable as Lee stood to comfort her.

“I wish I had the answers Laurie, but you don’t have to do this if you don’t want to. If it’s too much-

“Lee, there is a girl’s life at stake here! Maybe more than one if he isn’t caught,” Mable pressed.

“Laurie’s health is at stake here too! One of these days these nightmares and night terrors might just become too much!” Lee argued, seeing Laurie hug herself as though trying to hold all of her pieces together.

She retook her seat on the couch, looking exhausted and defeated.

“I’ll do it,” She said softly, her posture slumped as though she were carrying a heavy weight.

Lee sighed and sat beside her, torn between what they should do. Laurie was already in such a fragile state; she wasn’t like Daniel Myers had been, she had been through so much already in her life than Daniel ever had.

“Whatever we do, I think that you should definitely rest first. You’ve barely slept at all and you very nearly had hypothermia from walking in the woods for hours.” Lee pointed out and Laurie nodded, but she doubted very much that sleep would come easy for her.

“Well the guest room belongs to you guys for as long as you need it; I think that it’ll be easier to do this here initially anyhow,” Mable said, and Lee agreed.

Laurie made her way out back into the garden while Lee retrieved some stuff from his car and Mable retreated to her office to get some work done for her lesson plan tomorrow. Trapper galloped out into the garden behind her like an overgrown miniature pony, barking his head off at the birds and scattering flower petals in his wake. She couldn’t help but smile at the clumsy antics he displayed, remembering how much she had begged her adoptive parents for a dog but Mason Strode had been highly allergic. She shuddered as a dark thought came over her and she wondered that if they had had a dog, if Michael would have slaughtered it along with her adoptive parents.

She had these dark ‘what if’ scenarios often about that night in particular, and she doubted that any amount of medication was going to control or stop them.

“Always with me,” Laurie whispered, staring down into a small Koi pond; her reflection black on the surface.

When she returned to the guest bedroom, Lee had brought in the meds the hospital had discharged her with as well as her meds from home, along with a change of clothes, her glasses, purse, phone, and charger.

“Oh my god, thank you.” She sighed, relieved when she was able to put on her glasses and see clearly again.

He nodded, handing her a glass of water and motioning wordlessly to her meds.

Laurie took them all and he shut them away in a drawer for the time being since they were away from home and there wasn’t anywhere to lock them up.

“Lee……I’m so sorry for all of this, I know that you have to be so pissed at me.” She breathed, but he looked at her askance.

“I’m not pissed! You just scared the hell out of me when I woke up and you were gone. I so rarely hear from Mable that I almost forgot that she was out here, but I knew that she was closest to the woods around Haddonfield General,” He said, approaching her slowly at first, but she closed the distance quickly; kissing him with a fierceness that had him inhaling in surprise.

Lee wrapped his arms around her, deepening the kiss with a sudden desperation that was unlike his normal reserved behavior; this was the fierce and raging fire that she knew was untapped just below the surface of his calm demeanor and it thrilled her.

He backed her up against the bed until she felt the back of her knees against the mattress and she moaned softly, fisting his shirt in her hands as though she were dying to tear it off of him. Laurie wanted to touch him so badly; the need to feel his bare skin almost palpable as he wordlessly nudged her onto the bed behind her, his warm hands coming up to gently cup her face in his gentle touch as their kiss continued, the feel of the stubble on Lee’s face delicious as she gave as good as she got.

She tugged him forward in a silent plea, hardly daring to believe that he’d actually let her pull him onto the bed with her; but her heart gave a celebratory somersault when he acquiesced, landing with a small huff beside her before continuing his exploratory onslaught of her lips.

Lee kissed and nipped his way down her jaw, along her neck and up to her ear, his hand brushing against the robe she had discarded on the bed after her shower earlier; causing a wicked thought to cross his mind as he felt her writhe below him.

“D’you trust me Laurie?” He husked against her ear, his southern drawl sending shivers along her spine and torso simultaneously.

“Of course,” She replied automatically, her hand drifting lower in an attempt to cup the hardness pressed against her when he grabbed both of her wrists and pinned them gently on either side of her head.

“Then keep your hands to yourself,” He susurrussed playfully, making her grin before he pulled the belt off of the robe and tied it into a makeshift blindfold over her eyes.

Laurie gasped softly, biting her lip as he turned her onto her side facing away from him as he spooned up behind her deliciously.

“Have you ever touched yourself Laurie?” He asked, his voice inciting a crackle of fire in her belly.

“Yes,” She admitted, heat creeping along her cheeks and her heartbeat accelerating when she felt his hand caressing her side teasingly before climbing up; fingers tracing the elastic band of the sports bra she wore.

“Can you remember what it felt like? What you thought about?” He murmured, kissing the back of her neck longingly.

“I thought about this…… I thought about you,” She confessed, attempting to turn to face him, but his hand came up to stop her once more.

“Stay this way for now,” He said with a hint of command in his voice that sent a jolt straight down to her center.

When she complied, he began pressing needy, open mouthed kisses along her neck and shoulder causing her breath to become panting and wanton.

Lee’s hand traveled up the inside of her shirt, his fingers skating across her stomach and ribs before gently kneading her breasts through the thin material of the sports bra she wore. Laurie arched her back in an attempt to gain more friction against her pebbled nipples, but he moved away; causing a frustrated whine to escape her throat.

“Jus’ stay with me here darlin’” He drawled reassuringly, causing her to melt back into his touch as he continued caressing her; his dexterous fingers untying her sweatpants and pushing the material down and off of her.

Laurie’s plump lips parted and she gasped needfully again when she felt the cool air on her now bare lower half, her cheeks flushing beautifully as his lips returned to the nape of her neck and his hand gently kneaded her plush ass before he coaxed her to lift her leg and drape it across his own behind her; leaving her core open for his fingers to explore.

“God….. please,” She whimpered, wanting him to touch her everywhere; the scent of his cologne mixed with coffee, tobacco, and some unnamable earthy musk that was just so unique to him surrounding her, causing her to throb at her core.

Lee smiled softly, continuing his explorations, his hands seeming to gain a consciousness all their own as his fingers parted her folds gently, finding the bud of her womanhood; his fingertips dancing in a rhythm he knew would take her to ecstasy.

Laurie bit her bottom lip in an effort to keep from calling out too loudly; some part of her pleasure-drugged brain afraid that Mable would hear them.

He seemed to sense her internal conflict about making noise as he kissed and nipped his way along her shoulder and back up to her ear.

“Room’s sound-proof. They all are, Mable has awful migraines.” He informed her huskily as he slid out of the jeans he wore, his girth springing free of its confines.

She gasped anew when she felt his velveteen hardness press against her ass as he ground against her creamy skin from behind, his fingers continuing to work their magic on her bundle of nerves; spreading her slickness through her folds while delivering the delicious friction she craved from him.

“Lee….. fuck, I want you….” She whimpered, writhing in his arms and rolling her hips back to meet his length hungrily as he continued his ministrations to her ever-swelling clit, delighting in the mewls of pleasure that rolled off of her tongue.

“You have me darlin’, always….” He assured her breathily as her cries of ecstasy increased, the pleasure overwhelming her senses as a sweet pressure continued to build; coiling itself deep within her womb like a wound up spring until she was grinding herself onto his fingers with tears of overwhelming euphoria in her eyes.

Lee husked a growl against her ear as his lips and teeth renewed their onslaught on her neck and throat, his jaw muscles working as he ground against the silky softness of her, cock twitching and leaking with pre-cum as she reached an earth-shattering orgasm in his arms. Her kiss-swollen lips formed a perfect silent “O” of surprise as he rocked against her, his tapered digits never ceasing to work over her sweet spot as he came; painting her ass cheeks and lower back with his seed.

Laurie cried out in the throws of a second orgasm before collapsing bonelessly in his arms, make-shift blindfold forgotten as she tried valiantly to catch her breath; the unfamiliar delicious waves of after-shocks assaulting her as he removed the belt from her eyes and tugged a blanket over them both, scooping her into a protective embrace from behind as exhaustion claimed her.


End file.
